Magecraft
by CarpalTunnelLove
Summary: Everyone knows Mages are just a Wizarding myth. Just like they know Severus Snape is dead... AU I think/post-DH. Rated T for now because of some future cussing/Maybe future slash/future gore angst
1. Prologue

Hey ya'll. This is my 1st post so be nice, m'kay? Remember to R+R and I PROMISE it'll make more sense in future parts! But if you don't R+R I'll assume nobody wants to read it and I'll discontinue it! And CRY :,(

_Groan. _

"Oh, good, you're awake. How do you feel?"

_Louder groan._ "Like my head's been cleaved in half…"

_Blink. Blink._ "I…Can't see anything."

_Chuckle._ "Yeah, it usually takes a bit for the eyes to start working again."

"Wait a moment…"

_(Whisper)_ "Here it comes."

"I…_died_."

_Laugh._ "Not quite, professor."

_Huffy sound. _"Is this conversation going to end with 'for there can be only one'?"

_Louder laughing. _"I wish! I see you as a katana kind of guy."

_Different voice._ "Katie! Shut up!"

_First voice. _"Aaw, Hamiss, don't be such a downer—_smack_—Ow!"

_Man's voice._ "Will you two shut it already? Sorry about that, Snape. Sleep now, m'kay?"

_Groggy. _"But…"

_Softly. _"We'll explain it all later. Promise. Just sleep…"

_Gentle touch. _ "What…"

_(Whisper)_ "_Lasch…Jiyann…_"

_ Darkness. And quiet. _


	2. Chapter One

I'm back with more I had stashed away. See, I started this quite a while back, and it's just been collecting metaphorical dust until now, so I have to re-work a lot of it cause the writing was…Meh. Anyway, I'm explaining in this chapter (a little), but the next couple are the REAL info dumps. So enjoy, and PLEASE R+R!

* * *

_Three hours ago…_

"This is crazy!"

Caroline had been an anxious nag the entire week beforehand. And Katie had to admit, it was really starting to get irritating. She knew full well how stubborn Katie was, and how important their—for lack of a better term—mission was. But saying so would only make her friend angry, and they all needed to be focused if they were to have any chance of success. Besides which, neither of them had much control over the Gift at the moment, and fire was not good for drywall. Katie didn't even look up from lacing up her boots as she replied:

"That may be so, _ner vod_, but we have to do this, and you _know_ why."

"_Harich_…I'm scared." said Caroline. _That_ made her finally look up. She put her hand on Caroline's blue-clad shoulder, noticing that she _still_ had to reach up slightly to do so. "I never said you had to come with me."

"I know. But you wouldn't have let me or Dan go alone. And you suck at navigating." Her blue eyes were overbright, her brows furrowed with worry. "You're smarter than me, at least. I don't have the sense to be scared," Katie replied. She turned around and picked up Caroline's flight goggles. Handing them to her, she said, "Thanks, _Hamiss_."

"Any time, _Harich_."

"…Besides, if I die, where will you live?"

"You just had to step on that moment, didn't you…"

…

Severus groaned and blinked his eyes blearily open. Every part of him ached, particularly his neck and his brain. He groaned again and tried to figure out where he was. The smell was of paint and…was that _candy corn_ he smelled? A woman's voice drifted in from…maybe another room, he couldn't tell. He strained to make out the words. She was singing along to a radio;

"…_There lingers still/though we're far apart/A taste of honey…" _

Severus tried to move his fingers and felt cold wood beneath, though now that he thought on it, there was a pillow under his head. Not what he'd have expected what with his current rep as the Dark Lord's spy/lapdog. He shuddered minutely at the thought of those red eyes, so like Nagini's…Eyes. Severus was so tired he'd actually forgotten he had them. So tired that he could barely force the lids open. The view was infinitely more helpful than the rest of his environment. The view was of a pair of long, Quidditch-fit legs in a splendid pair of tacky, brightly-colored argyle socks with little blue silhouettes with red hair running around the ankles, brandishing clubs and swords.

Then it clicked. Candy corn, add The Beatles, add eccentric socks, add a pillow under his head (a gesture of kindness he would not have expected) all equaled…

"Smith?" The legs folded, their owner's bespectacled face coming into view. The young woman smiled, shaking her shaggy-haired head.

"She's in the other room," she said in an American accent. "And welcome back." Severus studied her face, trying to put a name to it. Her creamy blue eyes were kind.

"Caroline Hackenberg," he said, "I remember you," he coughed a little, "Ravenclaw, wasn't it?" She grinned and nodded, looking up as another oddly-clad pair of feet came into view, padding over to kneel beside him. The other woman, if someone so juvenile could be called that, bent over him, and he looked up into a face framed with wild, reddish brown hair. Katherine Smith's green eyes sparkled as they always had, with a mixture of ever-present mischief and the sort of weird compassion/possessiveness that she saved just for him.

"How ya feelin', professor," she said, quietly. Her voice was soft enough not to grate on his poor strained brain.

"Like shit, but I've felt worse." Smith smiled lightly, and then muttered something to the older woman. She stood up. Severus watched her feet plod around a corner until he heard her voice yell:

"HEY! A'DEN! GET US A BUCKET!" The answering voice was male, shouting back:

"COME OVER AND GET IT!"

"YOU _DI'KUT'LA_ _SHABIIR_!"

There was a loud _THUNK _noise as something, presumably a bucket, hit the wall beside her. Hackenberg's feet came back into view and flopped their owner down beside Smith, handing her the object. As though on cue, Severus' stomach lurched. He vaulted forward and was immediately _quite_ sick. "And I really wish you'd think of us using our first names," said Smith, "We're not at school anymore."

Severus was too tired to care how she became so adept at Legilimancy. "Very well then," he sighed, gagging a little again. Katherine held his hair back as he heaved again. "Although I am not—" he coughed a singularly uncomfortable, wet cough, "—_entirely_ sure what puts us on a first-name basis."

Katherine patted his back as he retched again, feeling more like shit by the minute. "There you are, Severus, you're okay," she murmured. He gagged again, his sides sore, but nothing else came out. "You done? Here, let's sit you up. By-the-by, we all have a telepathic link." A strong hand that ended in black nails gripped his arm tightly, helping him to a sitting position. He put a hand to his head, rubbing his temples, and croakily asked:

"Why am I alive?"

Katherine smiled lopsidedly. "I knew you'd ask eventually." Severus snorted contemptuously, "No shit, Sherlock, for all I know you damned _lunatics _somehow managed Necromancy and my days as a mortal soul are numbered." A horrible thought occurred to him.

"You _didn't,_ did you," he asked urgently, panicking more than a little. Katherine full-out laughed. "Hell no! We wouldn't do _that—_would we, Hamiss?" Caroline shook her head, laughing too. "We've seen _Practical Magic,_ you know. Why, you got a fear of Necromancy?" Severus scowled, fingering the crucifix under his burial robes. "Only God has the power of life." Katherine rolled her eyes.

"Oh, a _catholic._" Caroline elbowed her, "Be nice! Anyway, back on topic. But," she added, "You're probably not going to believe us." Severus shrugged.

"I'm _alive_; I don't know _what_ I will believe anymore." He looked her dead in the face. "Tell me." Caroline looked steadily back from behind rectangle glasses.

"Alright…You're a Mage." He raised his eyebrows. Of all the things she could have said, this made the least sense. Maybe she was beginning to lose her Ravenclaw intelligence. "Oh come _on_," he said, "Mages don't exist; at least, not anymore if they ever did." He saw the look on Katherine's face. "Which they _didn't,_" he added.

The man Severus had heard before stuck his head around the corner that had previously obscured him. It was Daniel Sullivan—a Gryffindor, of all things, and yet another American.

"Yeah, they're real, and we're them," he stated flatly. He padded over and sat cross-legged behind the other two. He was stockier and taller than either girl. Katherine was still looking fixedly at Severus with an expression akin to a Ministry official explaining the existence of dragons to a particularly stupid muggle. He rolled his eyes, growing sicker and sicker of their stupid games. "That's horseshit. Mages are a fairy tale, made up by Wizards to serve the duel purpose of making them feel protected and reminding them that magic has limitations." He smirked. "Why do you think the myths always stressed the pains a Mage went through as a result of certain events throughout his life cycle? The deformity? The mental strain?" He rolled his eyes. "It was all made up!"

Katherine shakily got to her feet, pulling her shirt off. "Tell me, O great and wise one," she snarled, "If _this_ looks made-up to you." She threw down the shirt, her expression becoming one of intense concentration. Her fists clenched, the lean muscles of her whole body seeming to flex. Her shoulders began to shake violently, until with a sharp burst of released breath—Severus gasped, vaulting backwards. The girl had snapped out a pair of real, feathery _wings_.

They were at least as wide as she was tall, their hawk-like color matching her hair. The force with which they had been extended had caused loose papers around the room to go flying, as well as snap one of the straps of her black undershirt and bra. Her eyes were open wide in a piercing glare that hit Severus squarely between the eyes with a loud _thunk!_

Clearly, Katherine had not grown out of her unpredictable temper. She panted slightly and calmed.

"Sorry," she said, a little abashed, "I can't help it. Kind of a…medical condition, of sorts." He looked at her, quizzically. Caroline explained.

"She's the Fire mage. It's in her nature. Also," she added, "I'm the Air mage, and Dan's Water. We're pretty sure you're Darkness." Severus sighed, running a hand through his (now clean) hair.

"Alright, alright. I believe. I still do not understand, but I believe."


End file.
